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No sure how "Golden Era" is defined. A weaken CBA would actually be good to the competition. Any how,

MS: Chen Long now plays a very economical game and will dominate for years to come. Wang ZhengMing, while weak-willed, has talents rivaling TH. He may break out at some point.

WS: WYH, WSX and WL are still young. LXR is now officially an elite player. Sun Yu has an excellent chance to succeed. On the horizon, there is someone named He BingJiao (age 14) who is supposed to possess "the most natural strokes" according to fans who saw her play.

MD: well, what can you say about CY/FHF? The future is no worse than the current, other than this pair.

WD: BYX/ZQX and XH/TJH can move into top two spots comfortably.

XD: This has always been a crapshoot event. CHN can be no worse than anyone else. Even the great GL/ZJ was a dark horse turned Olympic Champion.

The team cups will continue to stay in China. Hopefully, the competition in the individual events can heat up more.

Maybe I should clarify....top 5 high achievers based on past to present achievements in baddy. What I meant to say is aside from these top 5, which other countries has XD pair?

ok, i've misread your post as you're saying MAS is or was among the top 5 in XD.
You put MAS XD ahead of ENG even we won the world championship and Olympic silver within the last few years.
And together with our good old neighbour up north we got the world silver last year as well.

So, how many of world and Olympic titles are MAS is among the top 5 is based on?

Another point, China is poised to be the next Super Power, so naturally would project her power, sports supremacy being one of the ways, as part of soft power not hard power which is viewed negatively and uneasily by others. It is expressed as the national will of the Chinese people to want to excel in sports and be the best in the world - such a view has been clearly evident for decades and is set to grow stronger far into the future. The 2008 Beijing Olympics was a defining moment of it and this coming London Olympic Games is another opportunity to showcase her prowess.

India is another rising major power but I suspect (no offence intended) she seems to place more emphasis on economic and military might.Japan too is a major economic and military power,once China's superior,lately eclipsed by her (I'm more interested in the sporting and economic sense).

Therefore,I believe,China's Golden Era will extend for many more years.

I realised I worry for nothing about the possible dwindling pool of badminton players as fewer parents ,esp in the countryside, encourage their children to take up sports as a career. I overlooked the accelerating pace of urbanisation the last two decades from 26% in 1990 to 51.3% by end of 2011 and set to reach nearly 70% by 2035.

With such a massive influx of rural people to the cities and the unlikely ability of the government and the economy to create enough jobs for the teeming millions, I suppose there will continue to be a large pool of potential badminton players to tap from, or any sport for that matter, assuming the state takes care of their livelihood.

No sure how "Golden Era" is defined. A weaken CBA would actually be good to the competition. Any how,

MS: Chen Long now plays a very economical game and will dominate for years to come. Wang ZhengMing, while weak-willed, has talents rivaling TH. He may break out at some point.

WS: WYH, WSX and WL are still young. LXR is now officially an elite player. Sun Yu has an excellent chance to succeed. On the horizon, there is someone named He BingJiao (age 14) who is supposed to possess "the most natural strokes" according to fans who saw her play.

MD: well, what can you say about CY/FHF? The future is no worse than the current, other than this pair.

WD: BYX/ZQX and XH/TJH can move into top two spots comfortably.

XD: This has always been a crapshoot event. CHN can be no worse than anyone else. Even the great GL/ZJ was a dark horse turned Olympic Champion.

The team cups will continue to stay in China. Hopefully, the competition in the individual events can heat up more.

Woo-hoo, a 14-yr-old child prodigy ! One concern is most junior players in CHN don't get a chance to play in the senior/adult circuit, what more someone so young. When can we ever see her play,let's hope she starts beating her much older opponents and be included in the CHN national team soon. In two years time perhaps?

In MS, China have dominated the landscape as a team. They have had more players in the semis and finals than any other country, consistently. No surprise. The only country that hit them hard, was Malaysia, thanks to just one solitary man: LCW. In team events (TC, SC, AG etc) China has ruled with an iron fist for the past 5 or more years. There have been very few surprises.

But this is mostly down to LD, and lately, CL. Take LD away from the equation, and this may even affect CL's confidence. China will look decidedly shaky once LD is not around. Again, the theory that WZM, DPY et al will easily step up and fill the shoes of LD, CJH and CL, is IMO, wishful thinking or plain bluster. They have shown that they are good, but not that good.

And remember, other countries are improving. The young Danes, as well as the young Koreans and Japanese players are becoming a real and present threat and show the ability to displace China. In a couple of years, they will be joined by the young Indonesians and Malaysians. The Indians show promise, but whether they can make the transition from dangerous floaters to top-level threats remains to be seen. If AJ can get his act together, he can certainly still do it.

In WS, the Golden era for China seems to extend forever! Apart from the age of Susi Susanti (she too had to deal with giants from China) and Camilla Martin (she, ditto) the Chinese girls have had a romp. And they are still pouring in from every corner of the country! It's very likely China will maintain it's stranglehold on this format for a long time.

But as I pointed out earlier, one slip in calculations, or one star-crossed phase of retirements, and it could all change quickly. The other countries have been slowly closing the gap, and it is only the combined presence of the top 5-6 Chinese girls in almost all tournaments that have effectively crushed the spirits of the rest. But the youngsters from other countries are changing their outlook; they don't care how many China WS girls the CBA throws at them; they will just play their game. And once they begin to get better tech and strategic support and opponent-specific training like the CBA girls get, they will start making a difference.

They never did have a stranglehold in this format. MD was a constant battleground between many teams over various decades, and many countries partook of the honours: Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, even Denmark.

CY/FHF have maintained a slight edge over other teams because of superior infrastructure, research and support; none of the other countries come close to what CBA provides its players, with the possible exception of Korea. What is significant is that no other Chinese MD team has been able to make the most of the CBA advantage. Meanwhile, Japan, Indinesia, Malaysia, and most importantly, Korea, have been adding to their bench strength with some real talent. I have a feeling it's just a matter of time before China loses it's position among the top teams in this format. LYB and TBY will be really hurting at some deep personal level.

Also, my point of view is this: China may probably continue to have an edge (albeit comparatively debilitated) over other countries in team events (TC, UC, SC, AG, etc) but in all other, one-on-one events (SSP, SS, WC, OG to some extent, GPG blah blah) the playing field will change.

ok, i've misread your post as you're saying MAS is or was among the top 5 in XD.
You put MAS XD ahead of ENG even we won the world championship and Olympic silver within the last few years.
And together with our good old neighbour up north we got the world silver last year as well.

So, how many of world and Olympic titles are MAS is among the top 5 is based on?

Based on badminton history todate, MAS is one of the top 5 nations...but in women events, never mind XD, MAS is not even close to be a force, and definitely not in WC, AG, OLY, even SS. In fact, I think Japan and England had won more in women next to CHN, DEN and KOR.
You know the score more than anyone, MAS has not won any gold in OLY and WC ever...close though. Wait till Dato say bye, bye, then the wait is even longer.

Ar, age thingie, no secret, I am in my mid-fifties, can retire but scared like heck to retire cos' I dunno what to do with so much time. The truth is if I retire I would have to stay home and face my old lady all day long...like OTB, take out the garbage, the car is dirty (you know what to do lah), water the garden, cut the lawn, and so on....better stay in the office, safer